Easy community projects - help the sheep.

Had a bit of a brainstorm today.

It kind of stems from an ideal I hold regarding acts of protest. While this is not in any way a protest, it falls along the same line.

Let's say there are two types of protest. Active and passive. For all I know this is already written in a textbook somewhere, but I've just been thinking about this for some time.

So - you have active protests. The marches, the rallies and so on. You'll identify with this type of protest right away, because it's usually being thrust in your face. Justified or not, 'right' or 'wrong' as their cause may be to you - those people marching and yelling are advocating a particular point very actively.

Then, there's passive protest - this is kind of tricky to describe. I guess you could call it invisible protest as well. This kind of protest happens away from the public eye, but appears later, usually in the form of some kind of text based message. Via stickers or spraypaint, QR code or a flyer taped to a telephone pole - people get the message out without having their face on the front lines. I'm partial to this type of protest, so long as it meets a few requirements; doesn't waste tax money on repair or the attendance of police and as long as it's legal, get out there and be heard!

There's a time and a place for everything I suppose, but this isn't about protest, it's about passively helping your community.

We all give a lot of money towards our government - I don't care where you're from, that's a simple fact.

Sometimes it's a pain to see that money being used on projects that don't really satisfy the needs of the community or worse yet, when that money is not used at all.

Today I was at my local park - it's got a baseball diamond, a swing set, a couple basketball hoops and a jungle gym for the kids. I've been playing more basketball as the weather has improved, both in an effort to keep fit and to just unplug from all the bells and whistles that technology brings, for a little while after work.

One thing that always gets to me is the lack of a 'net' on a basketball hoop. So, today - I went out and bought one. I brought a ladder down, rigged the net up and left it there for the next guy to come down to the park.

This is the thing - by declaring that I've done so doesn't really make it passive community involvement anymore, but I'm sure you'll get what I'm trying to say here; DO things for your community. It doesn't have to be a food drive or a fundraiser. If you go to the park regularly, print out a sticker that addresses a littering issue - repair the basketball nets. I mean, I got the net today for 3 bucks - and about 10 minutes of my time.

I'm not trying to get all hippie here - I'm just saying that if everyone helps a little, we'll all benefit a lot.

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